Truth: kids (and me) like cute food packed in fun containers. And the cutest lunch time accessories are JAPANENSE BENTO bits and bobs. They just are! So today I've got a roundup of some really adorable Japanese bento boxes and other lunch time Fun Things that will give more oomph to a tired sandwich cut in half. (and if you don't want an imprint of Hello Kitty's face on your sandwich, let me ask you: WHY NOT?)

1.) 'The Manga Cookbook' got really great reviews on Amazon, and it's supposed to be a great primer on getting one started in the art making bento-inspired lunches! And with color comic style illustrations, your kids might want to learn how to make some bento treats right along with you. I want to learn how to make rabbit shaped apple slices myself....oh and my kid made excited noises over this one bigtime!

2.) Sandwich/Vegetable Stamper-Cutters are SO MUCH FUN. We have this set and they really do work and they transform sandwiches into awesome little creations. Try to ignore how much bread crust you end up wasting.....(save it for bread pudding!)

Cute
2 Tier Bento Box With Chopsticks And Band Animals French Yellow - See
more at:
http://www.from-japan-with-love.com/mouse-over-image-to-zoom--2-tier-bento-box-with-chopsticks-and-band-2.html#sthash.xSzQCzCD.dpuf

Cute
2 Tier Bento Box With Chopsticks And Band Animals French Yellow - See
more at:
http://www.from-japan-with-love.com/mouse-over-image-to-zoom--2-tier-bento-box-with-chopsticks-and-band-2.html#sthash.xSzQCzCD.dpuf

18 comments:

I totally want that Paddington Bento Box! And I just bought the Sandwich Vegetable Cutters. Too darn adorable! You are a terrible influence on my spending habits! :P But hey it's for a good reason, right?

I wanted to go the bento route, as everything is so cute. I love the Shinzi Katoh stuff. There have even been Shinzi Katoh Alice and Oz boxes! I have a set of stamp/cutters, but over the summer, they seem to have fallen down behind the drawer and I haven't had a chance to dig them out yet. The Totoro box is adorable. The girls watched that movie a few months ago. I got Spirited Away with an Amazon gift card this week, and the girls and I watched it Monday after school. They were blown away!

this is lunch time done right! I want someone to make my lunch like this... I'm a lunch time slacker. I detest making school lunch... but I will continue to do so. (I'm not going to be happy about it though).

ps I got those bento picks on your recommendation a while back. They are so much fun! I love cutting up cheese and such for kit to use them.

I love love love bento! I must get my hands on that book - I haven't seen it before. And those stampers and that Paddington box are beyond adorable. We use a lot of those little animal picks and bento boxes for packing Miss C.'s lunch. And tiny cookie cutters work great for making fun shapes out of fruit and veggies.

We don't live close to a Japanese grocery store, so I've bought all my stuff online here:http://www.allthingsforsale.com/. Everything is well priced and they have flat rate shipping.

Last to the party as usual!! So I think I need to be more bento-y because the cute-ification of the food really drastically increases the chance that it will get eaten...and we have a problem with things getting eaten by one certain 5 year old...So, I do not have a Japanese grocery store...what is your go-to site for bento stuff? amazon? And is the stuff good quality for the price? I think I should start with some of the cutters--shaped food gets chowed around here...and the picks I guess--they are the number one item huh?I am very worried about lunch this year!!! Maybe making it cuter is the best answer :)

Amazon has the same stuff that my Japanese grocery store does :) ~as for the quality, well it's plastic stuff. I've had a lot of my stuff for going on 3 yrs and it's all still intact! I run them thru the dishwasher all the time.